The court-martialed Nigerian soldiers are currently seeking for an international prosecution of Sambo Dasuki and Okonjo Iweala over their roles in the arms deal scam that adversely affected the war against Boko Haram insurgency.
Some soldiers tried for mutiny, cowardly behaviour and sundry offences before the court-martial instituted by the Nigerian Army have petitioned the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the arms procurement scandal.
No fewer than 3,000 soldiers were dismissed by the court-martial while 70 others were sentenced to death, according to the New Telegraph. With the revelations from the probe of the procurement of arms for the military, the soldiers, in a petition dated January 19 and addressed to the Prosecutor of the ICC, Mrs. Fatou Bensouda, called for the investigation and prosecution of former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Dambo Dasuki (rtd) and erstwhile Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala, for crime against humanity.
The soldiers said Okonjo- Iweala failed to prevent the looting of arms fund as Minister of Finance. Also, the soldiers, in the petition by their lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), stated that some former and serving military offices as well as public officials and private persons who engaged in the criminal diversion of $8 billion earmarked for the procurement of equipment for the armed forces to fight insurgency in the North-East should be made to face justice.
Falana said that the only “offence” proved against his clients in the military courts was that they had the temerity to demand for weapons to fight the well-equipped troops of the Boko Haram sect.
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